


Star-Crossed Lovers | Cedric Diggory

by c4sp0tt3r



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Chaser - Freeform, Gryffindor, Harry Potter - Freeform, HarryPotter - Freeform, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Freeform, Hufflepuff, Mentioned Viktor Krum, Multi, Quidditch, Ravenclaw, Seekers, Slytherin, Triwizard Tournament, cedric diggory - Freeform, voldemort - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:48:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c4sp0tt3r/pseuds/c4sp0tt3r
Summary: ❝𝐍𝐨, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝. ❞❝𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥. ❞═══°∴,*⋅✲══〖✰〗══✲⋅*,∴°𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 20.12.20 (previously on wattpad)Credits:-J.K Rowling. As much as I despise her transphobic views, I must give credit as I am inserting someone I made into a world she created. However, we do not accept transphobic, homophobia, racism or any types of discrimination in this household<3
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑦,

𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟. 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑚𝑦 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑘, 𝐼 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑠; 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑓𝑢𝑙. 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 

𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡. 𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛- 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘- 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑄𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 3𝑟𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑓𝑓.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝑁𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠. 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒- 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝-𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖'𝑚 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘.

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒. 

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑒.

-𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑎ℎ.

06/01/1993.


	2. 5th Year || Coconut Hand Cream

"Line up at the back. I'll put you in your seats for the new year. We will start O.W.L preparations soon, so I hope you all have the required textbooks- looking at you Mr. Pucey."  
Snape lectured, giving a stern stare to a Slytherin with black curtains. Delilah knew him from the Slytherin Quidditch team; he was probably the only one on that team that actually played by the rules.

Her new shoes had already began to give her blisters. She fidgeted, trying to move her feet into a more tolerable position, when her mind began to wonder.

She hadn't seen Cedric Diggory in a while; they had taken completely different courses for their fourth years, so she highly doubted she'd see Cedric in her O.W.L classes. Her obsession with Diggory had faded away once she'd stopped purposefully seeking him out, and also when he'd gotten himself a girlfriend in the year below- that he was for definite cheating on.

Just as this thought removed itself from her mind, none other then Cedric Diggory strutted in, carrying the exact textbook Delilah was holding herself. She had to stop her jaw from dropping. The universe HAD to be kidding- she hadn't thought about him in at least a year, and now when she does he walks into her potions class?

***

Snape had now seated the majority of the class, with the exception of Delilah, Cedric, Alicia Spinnet and Adrian Pucey. She had never hoped to be seated next to a Slytherin so badly before.   
"Pucey.. at the front by me."  
Snape had to keep a keen eye on Adrian after he had put one of the Weasley twins strange inventions into several of the students cauldrons- and it ended in more of the potion on the floor and walls then in every cauldron in the room added together.

Even though Alicia Spinnet had almost broken her neck pushing her on the quidditch stands, she was willing to put that aside. Playing with the tassel on her satchel, she was utterly unimpressed to hear Snape place Alicia Spinnet next to a Slytherin- however she saw him and Cedric speaking a lot; so he must be a decent person. 

The only seats left were the two at the back.

"Diggory, Sorcelle, sit yourselves in those seats." He demanded, his eyes darting from the pair, and then to the chipped dark oak seats.

Taking a deep breath in, she marched over to the table, her bag crashing against her hip. She dramatically sat herself down, as Cedric swaggered over to the stool.

"Get out the appropriate equipment. I will being checking everyone has everything they need for this course. No spares will be given out." Snape said, his voice never even slightly changing from his regular monotonous one.

Delilah unzipped her bag, her keychain (a picture of her, and her best friend Angelina, outside Honeydukes.) almost snapping off- she was meaning to put it on a new chain.

She'd left her cauldron in the potions cupboard during the Summer Holiday, as she knew for a fact she'd forget it. From her bag, she retrieved a handful of tiny jars, each containing minuscule doses of a few ingredients, her brand-new textbook, and her parchment roll and quill.

Cedric also placed his equipment on the desk, and as Snape looked at the pair, he asked:  
"Professor, can I use the bathroom?"  
"Yes."  
Cedric arose from the stool, and strutted out of the room. She wanted to pull her hair out- if fourth-year Delilah knew what was going on right now, she'd be literally screaming. 

She just didn't feel the same for him as she used to.

"Seems everyone has the correct equipment... that's a first. Today we will be brewing Amortentia, more commonly known as the strongest love potion. You will most likely cover this in more detail in your sixth year, however you must know certain aspects of it to pass your O.W.L's."

Delilahs face sunk. The universe HAD to be working against her now. It had been at least ten minutes, and Cedric wasn't back- she was secretly hoping he'd fell down the toilet.

"Here's a sample my top student of last year made."

As he unscrewed the lid, Delilah's nose was perforated almost immediately with the sweet smell of buttered popcorn, a less prominent aura of pollen; and an incredibly obvious smell of mint toothpaste. 

Cedric walked back in, and his face instantly changed from relatively smug to bewilderment.   
"Who used so much coconut hand cream? I can smell it from here." He complained, stumbling back to his stool.

"We're learning about Amortentia, Diggory." Delilah whispered, trying her hardest to contain her laughter. Who on earth even uses coconut hand cream anymore?

He pushed his hand through his hair, as he rested his chin in his hand- occasionally flicking over a page. She couldn't help but stare- she was wondering what she did in a past life to have to sit here.

"So. Tell me a bit about yourself, little miss Sorcelle." He said, turning his head towards Delilah. She wasn't sure what to say first-  
it was either:  
"I was madly in love with you in my fourth year."  
or,  
"I must've murdered about fifty people in my past life, because my karma is ridiculous."

She decided to go with a simple "My mother is a veela, and my father is a member of the muggle parliament."

He gave her a nod of approval, before wrinkling his nose similarly to a rabbit.

"Honestly, if my soulmate uses this much coconut hand cream i'm going to have to request a new one." He joked, tapping the desk with his middle and index finger.

Delilah gave him a pitiful laugh, before Snape announced the class could begin packing away their things.

It took Cedric no more then fifteen seconds to shove all his things away into his bag, as he swung open the door and disappeared into the crowd of wizards and witches.

Delilah pulled open her bag, and rummaged around inside, hoping to find her lip balm. She pulled out an almost empty container, and her heart sunk when she read the label.

"Coconut Hand Cream."


	3. 5th Year || Dementor, Dementor.

Delilah was sitting at her table at breakfast, minding her own business with Angelina, when the peace and tranquility was interrupted by an incredibly furious Scotsman. 

"What do you mean Spinnet can't play? Who else is going to play?!" Oliver Wood, a seventh year, and also the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, screamed.

When Delilah turned around to look who was being reamed by Wood, she saw George Weasley give a little nod in her direction, and then much to her dismay- Wood began marching over to her in a bull-like fashion.

Oliver threw himself dramatically next to Angelina, and gave Delilah a crooked smile.  
"How do you feel about playing for me in the quidditch match tonight?" He asked, tilting his head slightly and giving her a charming grin, trying his hardest to be persuasive.

"I feel as though i'm going to say no. You didn't want me in my second year so why should I help you now?" She said, bitterness lacing her voice. She had a fair point- when she tried out for beater in her second year, Oliver suggested she try out for chaser instead- but she politely refused.

"Please?" He asked, giving a rather dire attempt at puppy dog eyes.

"What's in it for me?"

"Cedric's playing."

Angelina was the only one who knew about her obsession with Diggory last year- how did he know? Or was it just the fact Cedric was possibly Hogwarts biggest heartbreaker, just beating that blonde boy in Harry Potters year?

"I don't even have a uniform." She added, crushing her co-co pops with the spoon. 

"Use Spinnet's, you look relatively the same size."

Delilah wasn't sure wether he was joking or not. Alicia was at the least 6"0 tall- her robes would be like a dress on Delilah. In all fairness, she had wanted to play a real game of quidditch for quite a while, even if she did have to play as chaser.

***

"Lilah! You might want to start getting ready! Alicias robes are in her drawers."

It was now 6pm- and the match was in an hour. They had to get to the pitch, and sit and listen to Wood speak about how they need to win because he's leaving at the end of the year.

Angelina was already in her quidditch robes, with her brand new broom in her hand. Her hair was brushed back into a neat bun at the top of her neck, and her necklace was now lying on her bedside table. Angelina had given Delilah her broom from last year to play with, as the school brooms were practically falling apart.

Much to her surprise, Alicias robes were in fact almost perfect. The sleeves were a little too long, and bound to get in her way, but she could just roll them up. 

"Should we get going?" Delilah asked, tying the shoelaces of her boots.

Angelina nodded her head, as the door to their dorm swung open, and revealed a limping Alicia Spinnet. Considering the trios dorm was near enough at the top, they were both incredibly surprise to see Alicia at the doorway- she'd done serious damage to her leg in the last practise.

"So, you subbing for me Lilah?" She smiled, hobbling like a pensioner to her bed. Delilah didn't know wether to laugh or cry- she knew Alicia would be absolutely furious at Oliver for subbing someone so unskilled for a game against hufflepuff- and to her knowledge, Alicia had a big crush on Cedric Diggory.

"Did someone hit your leg with a crowbar? Look at the bloody state of it." Delilah remarked, poking her scabbed leg with the end of her broom. Alicia returned this comment with a clenched jaw and a sharp exhale of air from her freckled nose.

"I'm not coming. Let me know how to match goes tonight." Alicia sulked, undeniably still displeased with Delilah asking if her leg had been beaten with a crowbar.

***

The two had started the treacherous journey to the quidditch pitch. According to Angelina, everyone would avoid walking with Oliver to the pitch because he would force you to jog, to get warmed up for the match.

It was pouring with rain; gunmetal grey clouds loomed above the castle, spreading out over to the quidditch pitch. Due to the downpour, the serrated crazy-paving stones they would usually take were now slippery- meaning the two would have to try and get to the quidditch match on time without breaking their necks.

Angelina was the first to trip. It was funny, considering Delilah was without a doubt the clumsiest of the duo. Angelina, now with soaked robes, burst out laughing, and creating a chain reaction. Not even ten seconds later Delilah came skidding past, her arms out, trying to gain balance- but failing, and ending up a few stones in front of Angelina, both in pits of laughter.

***

The pair had eventually arrived at the changing rooms, both covered almost head to toe in mud from slipping into the grass. Oliver Wood was not impressed to say the least- the girls had turned up five minutes late to his 'before the game' talk, and proceeded to laugh every time he said the phrase "Hufflepuff is going to murder us!".

Oliver was pointing to various locations on a rather poorly-drawn quidditch pitch, on a swivel-whiteboard. Occasionally, a very disproportionate stickman with canary robes would fly around the quidditch pitch, just to be completely struck down by around three or four little maroon stick people.

Harry Potter himself was squished between Delilah and Fred Weasley, and Oliver seemed to be utterly oblivious to poor boy being crushed. Potter was visibly uncomfortable, and considering he was supposed to be this stout-hearted, intrepid guy who'd save them from Lord Voldemort, Delilah though he was a bit of a sissy.

"For Merlins sake, would you stop shivering? for someone who's meant to be the saviour of a wizarding world, you acting like a complete baby." Delilah remarked nonchalantly.

Oliver gave her a 'shut up' type glare, and she saw harry glance at her from the corner of his eyes. Her remark was hastily swept under the carpet, when a quiet knock was heard at the door. A boy in Delilah's year, called Lee Jordan, who also commentated the matches, popped his head round the corner, sweeping his braids from out of his eyes.

"Get ready, the match is starting in literally like 45 seconds."  
Just as the last words left his mouth, he had vanished from the door- presumably to get to his seat. 

"Oh Merlin- we haven't prepared- okay, let's go." Oliver panicked, ushering the group from the room. Delilah was surprisingly composed, for someone about to play real quidditch for the first time- especially against a boy she loved for two years straight. 

They were all keenly waiting for their cue to fly in- each of them had now mounted their brooms, and a gigantic roar of cheers erupted from outside the doors (presumably for the hufflepuff team).

The echoing voice of Lee Jordan began to boom across the Quidditch pitch; and the doors infront of the Gryffindors swung open, as he introduced them to the game. In an orderly formation, they each flew out into pitch one by one; the rain drenching each player straight away.

She saw Cedric on the other side of the pitch; he was zig-zagging between his own players, before coming to a stop a few meters from Harry.

"Get in your positions!" Bellowed Lee, as each stand of students fell silent. Delilah placed herself between Angelina and a girl called Katie Bell. Cedric and Harry were below the rest of the players; most likely because the snitch would be easier to follow if they were literally right above it.

Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, strolled into the middle of the pitch, carrying an enormous brass case. She threw it on the ground, unlatched the buckles, and two bludgers instantly flew towards Harrys and Cedric- the snitch whizzed through the air, and Cedric almost immediately zoomed after it, with Harry not far behind. When the quaffle was tossed into the air, Delilah flew forward; grabbing the quaffle under her left arm and beginning to soar towards the three goals, each standing at a different height.

Ryan Thompson, a hufflepuff chaser, was quickly gaining on Delilah- and one he was just behind her, she threw the quaffle- and somehow managed to score.

The Gryffindor students jumped from their seats, and Lee Jordan began to cheer; Oliver was possibly the loudest of them all.

It had been fifteen minutes; and Gryffindor was beating Hufflepuff by 20 points- when she noticed Lee Jordan commentating for seekers that weren't actually visible.

"Okay- I cant tell you what the seekers are doing- they're up in the bloody clouds." He said, as everyone looked up, and saw glimpses of the two chasing after one another.

It got to the point where the game wasn't even being played- everyone was too busy keenly observing the fight above- when it all came crashing down, literally. A swarm of dementors floated amongst the clouds, a handful of students to covered their mouths in shock. When Delilah looked up, any breath she had was stolen.

Harry Potter was falling from the sky.


	4. 5th Year || Dementor, Dementor. Part 2.

"Oliver, I don't even like the kid, why do I have to go?" Delilah sulked. It was about an hour after the match when Harry Potter had fell from the sky.

Cedric had caught the snitch, just after Potter almost got his soul sucked out by one of the dementors. Delilah was certain she'd heard Oliver sobbing in the shower after the match, and it probably wasn't for his injured player.

***

There was around a dozen people huddled around the hospital bed, each in complete silence. The majority of the Gryffindor team were there, with the exception of Alicia Spinnet, who was in the hospital wing herself.

Fred Weasley was stood next to Delilah; and found it particularly amusing to poke her in the ribs every few minutes. Ron Weasley was stood next to a girl with extremely large teeth, and a jungle of brown hair.

"Fred if you don't stop i will shove my foot so far up your arse i'll be cleaning your bloody intestines." Delilah spat under her breath. Fred was still drenched, his hair was damp, and his goggles meant it was absolutely everywhere.

Most of the people gathered around Potter seemed to look at him with sympathy, but Delilah thought he was being pathetic. It isn't like he took the entire fall, Dumbledore did some spell to stop him from crashing down too much. Delilah was more concerned about to damage to the grass of the quidditch pitch then the damage to Potters head.

She was surprised to find Cedric had came to visit. He walked up to them all with wet, shaggy hair, and damp robes, and handed Harry a handful of chocolate frogs.

"Hope you aren't too broken, Harry- you have another match in a few weeks." Cedric smiled, as he removed his gloves. He looked at Delilah, and didn't look away until another Hufflepuff and Gryffindor entered the hospital wing.

It was her freshly-teenage twin brothers, Ezra and Felix. Ezra was the Hufflepuff; and treated Cedric as though he was Merlin himself; Delilah didn't see the qualities, but went along with it.

Considering they were twins, Felix and Ezra could not be more opposite. Ezra was a beater, but Felix didn't even go to Quidditch matches. Ezra had a little obsession with Harry Potter, and Felix had himself a crush on Ginny Weasley.

"Ez, mom said write to her, and Felix, write to dad, will you? He won't get off my bloody back."

Both the boys ran over, completely ignoring Delilah and throwing handfuls of sweets at poor Harry. They were in the same year as Harry, and Delilah was sure she'd seen Felix and Harry speaking before; so they must be reasonably well acquainted.

"Oh! Ezra, you played really well today." Cedric smiled, turning around to high five Ezra. Ezra was the Hufflepuff beater, and was probably one of the best Hogwarts had seen in a long time.   
"Thanks, Ced." Ezra said, diverting his attention to Madam Pomfrey, who was rushing over.

"Let the boy rest! So many of you." She complained, swatting at the crowd with her hand.

"Delilah, can I speak to you for a second?" Cedric asked, pulling at her sleeve.

"No." Delilah said sarcastically, before seeing he was actually getting upset and dragging him outside.

Once everyone had left the wing and Harry had been shown his crushed broomstick, Cedric pulled Delilah aside. His damp, chestnut hair fell just below his eyebrows, and no matter how much he tried to sweep it out of his eyes, it would always gently fall back. His eyes were a light hazel- his pupils never dilated. 

"Was it something I said to make you be so cold towards me?" He asked, his voice coarse and sincere.

"No." She sighed, and in that moment she felt like telling him everything.

"Then why, Delilah? Are you jealous of Cho?" He asked, his head cocked to the side, staring into her eyes.

"Jealous? Jealous! Ha. I'll have you know Diggory, I could get anyone in this school, thank you." She spat, glaring into his warm eyes, frustration coursing through her veins.

"Then why haven't you got me, Delilah?" He whispered, getting closer to her.

"Because I don't want you, Cedric." She whispered, mimicking his tone. She shoved him away by his chest and stormed down the corridor- she felt his eyes lingering and burning into the back of her skull. Cursing under her breath, she vowed to never ever waste Veela magic on that utter arsehole.

***

Students began to rush into the great hall, and Delilah was surprised to see Oliver Wood; she thought he would've tried to jump from the astronomy tower or drown himself in the showers after their loss to Hufflepuff.

Dumbledore held dinner a little later then usual, to try and encourage more students to come after the quidditch match. She slumped down next to Angelina, Katie and Alicia, she was utterly exhausted. Cedric and his gang of complete goonies were being excruciatingly loud and irritating, to the point where Delilah was about to throw a metal spoon at the back of his head.

"Aren't you going to eat Lilah?" Alicia asked, offering her the potato bowl. 

"No thanks. Not really got a big appetite, I cant even think straight." She sighed, tapping the fork on the wooden table. She couldn't help but look at him; what was the purpose and his true intent when he dragged her aside earlier?

Angelina tried force feeding Delilah a spoon-full of mint choc-chip ice cream, usually her favourite, but Delilah shook her head. 

"Shit, you must really be upset, i've never seen you turn down ice cream before." Angelina laughed, putting the spoon back in the bowl of ice cream.

She had to tactfully look at Cedric, because if Alicia saw, she'd want to hit Delilah with several speed-boats.  
"Are you worked up over him again?" Angelina asked, tracing her friends eyeline and eventually ending up at the back of Cedrics head.

"No." She insisted, whipping her eyes away and to Katies.

When he was sure no one was looking, Cedric turned around and met Delilah's gaze. He gave her a sweet smile, and beckoned her over. He was surprised when she shook her head- no one normally declined an opportunity to speak to him.

Delilah wasn't sure if it was the delusion of her being exhausted, but she was certain Cedric had winked at her. In a flustered mess, she abruptly grabbed her satchel and ran from the great hall, leaving her friends confused and concerned.

She felt like her insides were being twisted- she had to get to her dorm- she needed to lie down immediately.

***

She shoved the door open with her shoulder, and dug through the drawers attached to her desk. The letter had to be in here somewhere, but the question was, where?

She had no intent to give it to the person written on the envelope- but she just need closure. Yes. That was what she needed:   
closure.

She began to panic- it was nowhere to be found. She began to frantically throw the contents of the bottom drawer all over the room, and she finally found it, hidden under the birthday card Angelina had given her second year.

Thank Merlin she hadn't lost it.

She clutched the letter to her chest; she'd never been so relieved. Now that she had it, she slipped it inside her pillowcase. She'd never lose it again.

Another envelope lay on her desk; undoubtably her mothers handwriting. She tore the envelope open, and through exhausted eyes, read her mother's scrawl.

"Dearest Delilah,

Why have you not written to me? I miss you dearly, we all do now your in England with your father. Have you told Ezra to write to me? I haven't heard from him; Or was it David's poor choice of owl? I always knew he was utterly incapable of simple tasks.

I have spoken to your Father, and we agreed that you and the twins will come visit me for a little longer in the holidays. Your grandmother and grandfather miss you so much, darling. Write to them for me, will you?

I hope you've been doing well at school, miss Sorcelle. Last years grades weren't you best- try a little harder this year please. I have your best interests at heart, my dear.

Send an owl soon!

From your loving mother,  
Gabriella Esmée   
Sorcelle.

She threw the letter on her desk, as she wrote a post-it to remind herself to write to her mother. As she stuck it ontop of the letter, she began suddenly lightheaded; what was wrong with her?  
  
***

It was a warm but breezy summers day; the sun was glimmering in the sky. Delilah was sat by the lake, lightly sketching whatever popped into her mind. She'd bailed on her Hogsmeade date with Adrian Pucey to sneak out and lay by the lake a while, watching the butterfly's flutter through the air and whatever lurked inside the lake.

She was refining her sketch, when one by one, droplets began to dot around the page. She wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her robes, as she closed her sketchbook and lay back in the grass.

She closed her eyes, wrapping herself up in her own arms trying to contain her sobs. What did she do wrong?

Hearing footsteps behind her, she jolted upright and quickly rubbed her eyes. She didn't want to look at who it was; but she could feel their presence. She heard them sit down beside her, and a strong aura of buttered popcorn was all the comfort she needed. 

She was suddenly gently pulled into a soft, but loving embrace, and she couldn't hold it in anymore. She sobbed for 45 minutes into the tie of the affectionate Hufflepuff.

After a strangely comforting silence, Cedric turned her head towards his, and looked into her blood-shot, cold black eyes.

"If I could take it all back, I swear I would. I'm sorry I failed you, Delilah."

"I love you, Cedric."

"I know. But why won't you just realise and accept it, darling?" He asked. She shut her eyes. Why couldn't she accept it?

She felt her arm being violently shaken, and when she opened her eyes, she wasn't lying by the lake with Cedric anymore- she was all alone, in her desolate, frigid bed in the Gryffindor tower.

The kind eyes were no longer Cedrics, but the perplexed, stygian eyes of her best friend Angelina.

"I was worried- i'm sorry for waking you- but you were crying- I wasn't sure what was wrong." She stammered, kneeling beside her now despondent dorm-mate. Delilah didn't love Cedric. She just didn't- so why did she feel so guilty about thinking that she didn't?

It was all just so unjust.


	5. 5th Year || Merry Christmas, Everyone.

"I wasn't so sure I believed in love. It seemed almost like a foreign concept to me. Considering my rather pathetic love life previously, I was surprised when he even showed the slightest interest in me. He was the most popular boy in school, and in all honesty, I was just the sarcastic bitch people thought was relatively funny. No more then a class clown."

"Alicia? What are you reading?" Delilah asked, rubbing her eyes. Her friend had been babbling for the past few minutes nonstop, and it was really starting to do her head in.

Her heart dropped when she saw in her friends hands, was non other then her battered maroon fourth year diary.

"Alicia! No! That's from fourth year and you know about fourth year!" Delilah screamed, diving towards her; no way had she been quoting directly from her old diary. Alicia squealed, as she rolled off her bed, shuffling away from the furious grasps of Delilah Sorcelle.

***

It was late December; snow had already began to fall upon the turrets of the castle, and encasing the forbidden forest under a blanket of glitter. Cedric promised to take Delilah to hogsmeade on a little trip, but alas, he'd never once walked up to her and offered to take her. 

She'd already wrapped all her friends gifts, and she even bought one for Cedric. It wasn't much, it was just a few boxes of chocolate and a little polaroid of the two she'd gotten Angelina to take in early December. It consisted of Cedric, butterbeer in hand, wrapping his arms around a laughing Delilah- and a blurred Ravenclaw in the background with her arms crossed.

Angelina knew Delilah just wanted to be friends; but she wasn't particularly sure on Cedrics intent.

In the little period of time between the Quidditch match and now, the two seemed to of grown considerably close; but having to do it out of the keen public eye. Cedric was rather well known, and news tend to spread around Hogwarts like wildfire anyway, so throwing Ced into the mix really was not a wise idea. His girlfriend Cho seemed extremely possessive, and despite the fact Delilah had never shown any endearing affection towards Cedric, she didn't seem all too keen on her being so friendly with Cedric.

She'd packed her trunk the night before, because she knew for a fact she'd be too lazy in the morning. She desperately wanted to stay for Christmas, because she could spend a little more time with Cedric, but her mother was making her visit her family in France. 

***

Because it was the last day of term, students had been given permission to wear regular clothes. Delilah shoved on some pale-blue, faded, baggy jeans, matched with an oversized graphic t-shirt her father had bought her for her birthday last year. She was annoyed to find out she'd packed her red high-too converse already, so she instead shoved on some chunky black and white air-max.

She threw her hair up in a messy bun; she'd only be in Hogwarts for a few hours anyway. Her trunk would be taken to the train for her, so she didn't have to worry about that, and due to the departure date falling on a Sunday, they had no lessons to attend. 

Quite a few students were gathered in the great hall, exchanging gifts and cards. She wasn't sure when to give Cedric his, as if his girlfriend saw she'd probably start up a whole fuss, and then ruin the pairs new friendship.

***

Delilah walked into the great hall, a few presents bags of different sizes slinging from her wrists. Ones on her left had been given to her, and ones on her right had to be given out. 

She knew how she'd give Cedric his gift; she'd bribe Ezra into doing it for her. But for now, she had to become father Christmas and hand out these gifts.

***

"Ez, please? For me?" Delilah begged, trying to shove the glittery gift bag into the reluctant arms of her brother.  
"What's in it for me?" He asked, his arms folded.  
"I'll sneak you some firewiskey." She whispered, holding the bag at arms length with an encouraging smile.  
Ezra snatched the bag, and marched towards the kitchens. The straps of the bag had dented into her pale skin, and her legs were aching from running around the castle depositing gifts.

She was just about to walk back up the stairs and toward the Gryffindor dorm when her shoulder was grabbed, and she was spun around.

"Woah- Ced- there's such a thing as saying my name?" Delilah lectured- he'd nearly sent her to an early grave. He seemed worried about something, or perhaps his face was just red from sprinting up the stairs.

She looked to his left hand, and he was holding a gift bag. She looked back to his flustered face, and he gave her an awkwardly charming smile.

"Here, I got you something." He said between gasps for air.

"Awh, cheers Ced." She said, taking the gift and pulling him into a tight and sudden hug. He was wearing his quidditch jumper, and she nestled her face into the soft fabric.

"Why are you so out of breath? Your a seeker, your meant to be in shape." She joked, prodding at Cedrics shoulder. His face was almost painted a blood red; Delilah though he was about to pass out.

"I'm asthmatic." He said, slowly regaining his breath.

"I have to go- i'll see you later?" He asked, slightly less red now.

"Of course!" She smiled, as she jogged up the stairs, leaving the Hufflepuff alone. 

***

She threw herself onto her four-poster bed, and tore at the sellotape holding the top of the bag together. She tipped the bag upside-down, and four neatly wrapped gifts fell to the bed, along with a miniature bouquet of Dahlia flowers; her favourite.

She checked the bouquet, and on it, there was a small tag and a little note scrawled in black sharpie.

"Have a great Christmas, Lilah."

She smiled at the heartfelt message, as she tore the wrapping paper off the first gift. The first gift was four chocolate frogs, each taped together to make a sort of lopsided square.

The second present was a notebook, with lions scattered across it, and her name on the spine.

The third was a silver necklace, with a miniature 'D' on, scattered with diamanté's. 

the fourth was the biggest one of them all. She unwrapped it, just to find herself with even more wrapping paper. She couldn't help but laugh as she tore away the dozens of layers of wrapping paper. She tore and tore at the wrapping paper, until the gift was revealed:

a little velvet box.

When she opened it, there was no jewellery; no nothing. Just a little scrawled note, telling her to go to the Astronomy Tower at 1pm, and hour before they had to be at the station.

What was he playing at?

***

It was 12:45pm, and she knew if she didn't go now, she'd never end up going; and she was incredibly nosy.

She dragged herself from the warmth of the common room, and began the same path she'd taken at 12am every Wednesday night for Astronomy. It was a hike, but she was motivated by curiosity.

She found herself lingering outside the entrance to the tower. She could hear someone pacing around inside- but did she really want to go in there if she wasn't sure it was who she wanted to see?

She eventually swung open the door once the pacing had stopped, and saw her newly-found friend sitting down on the railing, holding onto to it and dangling his leg over the edge. His light brown hair was being blown by the wind, and he turned around when he heard the door open.

"I was secretly hoping you wouldn't come." He smiled, but in a melancholy way, as he swung around and stood onto ground again, as he walked towards Delilah.

"Look, Delilah, I know we haven't really know eachother for very long, but-"

His sentence was interrupted by the squeaking of the door, and the recognisable heads of two mischievous gingers were now poking around the door.

Delilah turned around, and instantly ran to hug George. George Weasley and herself had been best friends, and the pair had been rather inseparable since their first year.   
"Thank you for my present Georgie! I loved it." She smiled, as Cedric let out a hefty sigh. He then shoved past the three, and stormed down the stairs in a hurry.

"Oh- did we interrupt something?" Fred shouted after Cedric, but either he was already gone, or was simply ignoring the Weasley.   
"No." Delilah smiled, as she showed them the necklace Cedric had gifted her earlier that day.

***

It had been an hour since Cedric had stormed away from Delilah, and she wanted to continue the conversation, but he was nowhere to be found.

Angelina and Delilah were now standing at Hogsmeade station, waiting for the Hogwarts express to pull in so they could all finally go home. Angelina then stamped on Delilah's foot, and nodded her head to the left. When Delilah turned to look, she saw Cedric walking onto the platform. 

"Go get your boy." She whispered, and Delilah pulled a disgusted face.  
"Shut up, Lena." She sighed, as she walked over to the lone Hufflepuff.

"Hi. Ced, I'm sorry about earlier, but i'm sure we can speak-"   
"No." He spat coldly.  
"No?" She repeated, in utter disbelief.  
"Send me an owl. I can't bare to look at you."

Delilah was left standing alone on the platform, as Cedric walked over to a girl in a louis-blue turtleneck. Fantastic. They'd been friends for a few weeks and she'd already messed it up. She did think he was being a little too frantic about the whole situation, but then again, we are speaking about the boy who in his first year would hug each of his friends as they entered the great hall. Angelina walked over to her friend- who was still in shock from Cedrics blunt reply.

"That did not look good from afar, Lilah." She sighed, putting her arm around her friend.  
"I don't understand?"

***

They'd now take their seats on the Hogwarts express, with the compartment full of the hubbub and chatter of the friendly dorm-mates.

"Right, I know everyone's as confused as I am right now. Delilah, what is going on between you and the handsome hufflepuff?" Alicia asked, leaning forward and completely abolishing any boundaries.

"Nothing, we're just friends. He has a girlfriend." Delilah replied, her hand on her chin as she stared at the passing countryside.   
"Yeah, you!" Giggled Katie, gently nudging Delilah.

"Oh my god, can you just leave it!" She shouted. They watched as Delilah stood up, and stormed from the carriage, more flustered then she was in the great hall. Alicia and Katie erupted into malicious laughter, as Angelina looked from the carriage to see Delilah storming towards the bathrooms. Just as Delilah though Cedric was being dramatic, Katie and Alicia thought Delilah was being a little more touchy then usual. She seemed easily irritable; but why?

Running towards a cubicle, Delilah snapped the lock shut and curled up into a ball. She didn't even care if the floors were in the bathroom, she just needed to get away from the bickering. She'd been feeling sick ever since the quidditch match, and in all honesty she was getting rather bored of it at this point. It seemed unnecessary.

When she heard someone else enter the bathroom, and she held her breath; she didn't need anyone else seeing her so worked up, she was supposed to be the type of person who was nonchalant all the time. This had all come crashing down ever since her little "performance" in the great hall, when she'd stormed away in a flustered mess.

Why had she been feeling this way?

She heard the footsteps draw closer, and closer, and closer, until she could see a pair of slightly-tattered black Air Jordan XI's outside the bottom her cubicle.

The soft voice that spoke to her was all too familiar.

"Lilah? What happened?" He asked, still standing outside the cubicle.  
"I saw you running down the hallway, and I just wanted to check you were okay." He spoke, his voice soothing and calming.

"I'm fine. Don't you think it's a bit strange your in the girls toilets?" She spat, trying to get Cedric to leave her alone.

"Their actually neutral." He answered.  
"Please open the door."  
"No."  
"Delilah, let me help you."  
"No. You didn't want to speak to me earlier, so why now? Do you want some bloody brownie points for chasing me into the toilets?"

She heard Cedric sigh, as he slumped down in the wall outside the cubicle.  
"I have a clear schedule until 8pm tonight. You'll have to leave sometime in the foreseeable future." He said. She could see his caring expression through the crack in the door. She stood up, and swung open the cubicle door.  
"Right, move out of my way, Diggory." She stomped over to the sink, and let the freezing water run over her hands.

"Here's my address. Please, write to me will you?" He asked, handing her a small piece of papers with rigid edges.

"Fine."

"Thank you."

And then he left, leaving Delilah staring at her smudged-mascara and her pale complexion.

***

Delilah had now returned to her compartment, and everyone inside it was now fast asleep. The train had to be arriving soon, surely to Merlin? It felt as though they'd been plowing through field after field for hours on end. She then got a glimpse of the skyscrapers, and then a few little terraced houses, and before she knew it, they were rolling into Platform 9 ¾.

She woke up the members of her compartment, before pulling her trunk from the overhead shelf. She want sure if she'd be picked up by her father or her uncle, but either would be fine. She just wanted to get home as fast as she could. The four dawdled inside the compartment, waiting for the train to clear up a little bit. Delilah had pulled Ezra and Felix inside with them, so she didn't have to spend fifteen minutes looking around for them like she did last year. 

The train was almost completely empty, and Delilah put one hand on each of her brothers shoulders and guided them onto the platform. She bid farewell to her friends, and promised to write to them. She caught Cedrics eye, and he was with a man slightly shorter then himself, undeniably his father. She waved him farewell, before spotting her father towering over the majority of the crowd. She ushered her brothers through the crowd, and finally found herself in front of her father.

"Hey!" Ezra smiled, pulling Mr. Afton into a tight hug.   
"Hey dad." Felix sulked. He was in quite a mood today; possibly because he had the chance to speak to Ginny Weasley for a month without lessons interrupting, but their mother had arranged for them to go to France.

"Delilah, are you okay? You seem a little... off." Her father commented, sweeping his daughters hair from her face.  
"Yeah, dad, i'm okay. Just tired. Can we go now?"

And with that, the family of four began their journey back to David Aftons house.

Home again.


	6. 5th Year || A Change In Setting.

It was the next morning; and she woke up in her delightfully comfortable double bed at her fathers house. People would often ask her why her name was Delilah Sorcelle, and not Delilah Afton (after her father), and the answer was simple. Despite her father having more custody, he didn't really care enough for his children: he didn't want to go through all the effort of changing their names back, either. David was extremely career-driven, it wasn't explicitly a terrible thing, but she wished he'd pay more attention to them.

David Afton was simply a useless father. If Gabriella hadn't insisted David spend Christmas with his children, he probably would've ignored them completely. David was a relatively high-up muggle  
politician, and his polices were... questionable, to say the least.

Her fathers constant ignorance towards Delilah upset her greatly, but she'd learnt at a young age to suck it up. She'd be back with her loving mother and grandparents before the end of the week. Despite her fathers emotional distance, Delilah's bedroom was beautifully decorated. Dozens of plants hung from the ceiling, some of their sage-green leaves spilling over the edges of their wicker baskets. Most of her furniture was a dove-white, including her desk which was littered with stationary, and the little note with Cedric's address. She decided to write to Cedric that night, and bribe Felix with a few sickles to let her borrow his owl.

David lived in the heart of London, in a grand apartment high up; and gave some stunning views of the concrete jungle surrounding her. Sometimes, Delilah would sit before the enormous living room window, and observe the sky as the sun fell behind the skyscrapers, and the moon took its place.

Just as Delilah begun her daily sky-watching ritual, she heard her father call her from the dining room. She unraveled herself from the warmth of her blanket, and shuffled towards her fathers voice. She saw her brothers standing in the archway, and her father sitting next to a woman considerably younger then himself. Delilah thought she was simply a friend; but she had to stop her jaw from dropping when he slung his arm around her.

"Kids, this is Tracey."  
The woman looked no older then 25- and considering her father has turned 54 in November, Delilah was understandably mortified. She watched as Ezra grit his teeth, and Felix stared at the woman. The three had previously had a stepmom, when the twins were four- and let's just say she wasn't all too keen on them, to say the least. And the old maid had defiantly had some sort of fling with Afton, but they hadn't seen her in a few years.

They did have a new maid, Heather Murphy with an extremely thick Irish accent, but being at school with a handful of Irish meant the three understood most of what she was saying. Heather was around 29, and she had worked as the twins nanny when her mother was kicked out. She worked well with the twins, and they saw her as a stepmother, so now they had a real and legitimate one, they were not happy.

"Hey. What'd you do for a living?" Ezra asked, attempting to spark up a conversation, because the room had been suffocated in silence for the past two minutes whilst the siblings processed this brunette sitting at their dining table. 

Felix shot a glare at Ezra, as the woman gave them all a glimmering smile- literally. The several ceiling lights reflected off her obviously whitened teeth, and almost blinded Delilah.

"Im a receptionist at your fathers workplace." She smiled, and Ezra raised his eyebrows and nodded respectfully.   
"How much do you earn?" Felix piped up, and the lady let out a laugh, and David looked furious.  
"Felix, that is not poli-" He scolded, and much to his dismay, Tracey shook it off and proceeded rest her head on David's shoulder. Felix scowled, and sulked from the archway and back into his room.

"Ezra, you look different today." David remarked, pulling his glasses from atop his head and observing his son. Delilah spun to look at him, and she noticed a small metal stud in his nose.

"You got your nose pierced? Ezra! What have I said! Your ruining your face, putting unnecessary holes in it. Take it out immediately." He lectured, and got himself a glare from Delilah.   
"I got it pierced ages ago, I don't understand why your so bothered now." He stumbled on his words- Delilah knew he was lying. He didn't have it yesterday on the train, so he must've done it this morning.

"Heather's making dinner, so be back in here in fifteen minutes." David said, ushering the kids from the dining room. Delilah and Ezra walked into the living room, and sunk themselves into the new sofa. Once Delilah was sure her father was out of ear-shot, she raised her eyebrows and asked Ezra when he got his nose pierced.

"I did it with one of your safety pins earlier." He whispered, giving Delilah a wide grin. Delilah thought it suited him- and encouraged him to keep it in.   
"You look cute, Ez. Keep it in, love. Ignore dad, we all do." She laughed as she turned on the television, and the two watched the first Home Alone- it was their favourite christmas movie.

***

They'd all eaten the food made by Heather, and Tracey had left a few hours ago. David was doing paper-work in his office, when there was a booming knock at the door. When Delilah got up to answer it, David shouted at her to sit down.  
"Don't answer! I have a package- you can't see it. Go to your rooms."  
Delilah and Ezra looked at each-other with obvious confusion, before her father entered the living room, excitement sparkling in his eyes.

The two walked to their side of the apartment, and waited in the hall for about fifteen minutes before David called them into the living room. Ezra had ran down the corridor to tell Felix, and the three were lurking outside the door from the bedroom corridor into the living room, awaiting acceptance to enter.

The three all burst in at the same time and their father was sat in the swivelling beige chair, facing away from the door in an ominous fashion. When he spun around, the three instantly ran towards him. Lying on his lap, was a puppy- but not just any puppy- the bernese mountain dog Delilah had been pestering about since her fathers friend's dog had given birth. 

"I know you lot wouldn't be here Christmas day, so Robbie gave me the puppy early. We need to go out and grab it some stuff, so Heather will look after it whilst we're gone."

"Dad, it's literally 10 at night." Felix remarked, scratching behind the puppy's ear and nodding towards his watch.

"We'll find somewhere. Let's go." He said, gently moving the puppy from his lap, and grabbing the car keys. Ezra ran to his room, and got changed into one of Delilah's hoodies he'd stolen and a pair of jeans- the other two were still dressed from earlier, and with excitement brimming in each of them, they took the elevator to the car-park and drove to the nearest major supermarket.

***

"Dad! Can we get this collar?" Delilah asked, pulling a beige collar from a rail, with small white polka-dots speckled across it. Felix was frantically running around, trying to find a food and water bowl, whilst Ezra scrounged for a bed.

"Yes, that's nice. We need to get him a little thing for it with his name, i'm sure I saw a Timpsons round here." He said, walking down the aisle. Luckily, there was a Timpsons (a key carving and general engraving store) inside the supermarket. Delilah ran around gathering her brothers, each carrying various dog toys, food, beds and bowls. They decided to pay for everything before actually buying a charm for the collar.

The boys were carrying all the carrier-bags, as they all crowded inside the little Timpsons, when they realised they hadn't picked a name for the puppy. 

"Ezra!" Ezra suggested.

"Ezra that's your name." Felix laughed, along with the other two.

"Maeve?" Delilah said.

"Delilah that's your name, and besides, he's a boy." David replied, observing the different charms offered.

"But it's my middle name."

"What about Bear?" Felix said, tracing the outline of a bone-shaped charm.

"Hey, that's not half bad." David said, and it was final. The puppy was called Bear. The four walked up to the counter and the cashier was a friendly old-woman, who looked absolutely shattered.

"We'd like a charm with the name bear, please." David smiled at the woman, opening his wallet and giving her a twenty pound note. She took the note, and fifteen minutes later, they were back in the car and ready to spend time with their new puppy Bear.

***

As they swung the front door open, they saw Heather and Bear fast asleep on the sofa. It was 12am, after all- Heather was normally at her own home by now, but David offered to pay her double if she stayed- she'd be crazy not to take up the offer.

Bear was now decked out in his new collar, and he was asleep blissfully on his new bed. To say the least, three was were over the moon- they'd been pestering David for a puppy for years on end, and he'd finally given in. They were upset to be leaving him behind for France tomorrow, but Delilah was ecstatic that she'd finally be able to see her grandparents and her cousins again. How she missed them all.

She walked into her bedroom, ready to fall to sleep on her bed- when she saw the note with Cedrics address scrawled onto it. She decided she must write, otherwise she never would. She could hear her father going absolutely ballistic in the room next to her- she supposed something to do with Felix's owl Albie.

Sitting at her desk, she pulled a quill and parchment from her bag and began to write.

"𝘛𝘰 𝘊𝘦𝘥,

𝘐𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘪𝘦 (𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹'𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘭) 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 23𝘳𝘥, 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘪'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶!? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭? 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴- 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮! 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯? 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘪'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯!

𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘩 𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦" 

She sealed the envelope, and snuck into Felix's room and sent Albie on his way. She wrote a little note explaining she was just borrowing him for a letter. When she got to France, she could just use the family owl, Francis. She snuggled under the security of her electric-blue duvet, and fell soundly to sleep.

***

It was around 4pm, and Delilah was still in bed, she simply could not be bothered to move. She'd been in the shower so her hair was damp, but she hid from the outside world under her duvet. The sun had already begun to set, when Ezra came running in, flailing his arms around like a mad-man.   
"Moms here!" He squealed, jumping from foot to foot with a large grin spread across his pale freckled face. All of Gabriella's children loved her dearly; she was the kindest woman and she truly adored and wanted the best for all her children.

Delilah sprung from her bed, and ran into the living room. Standing by the front door, true to Ezras word, was her mother. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, the ink-like colour being a stunning contrast from her eyes; they were a light grey, similar to the blanket of snow encapsulating London- but they weren't cold- they were kind.

Delilah's father was out at work; so Heather would see them off for him.

"Darling! Come here." Gabriella said, her thick French accent piercing the room as Delilah ran towards her. She pulled her into a comforting embrace, with her sweet chocolate-smelling perfuming lingering in the air around her. There was no one in this world she loved more then her mother. 

"Who is this little puppy?" She asked, her icy-white heels clicking on the beige linoleum flooring. She scooped Bear in her arms, and scrunched her nose in a friendly fashion as she tickled behind his ear.

"I am surprised David allowed you to have a puppy in here. He'd freak out when Henri bought Biscuit over." She sneered, placing the puppy back inside its bed. Heather was standing in the archway to the dining room, tapping her foot. She didn't seem to be a big fan of Gabriella; but to put it politely, Gabriella could not care less.

"Ezra, darling, what's that in your nose?" She asked, pulling him towards her. She twisted the new piercing with her nails, before tilting her head and smiling.  
"Suits you, Ezra." She said, before Felix butted in from the sofa.  
"Dad told him to take it out."  
"Ignore your father, my dear, he's a right grumpy old crook." She whispered, causing Ezra to start giggling, and Heather to look her up and down in disgust.

"Do you not have chores to do, dear?" Gabriella asked Heather, not in a rude way- but Heather didn't know about wizards (David told her they attended a Scottish birding school, which wasn't particularly wrong, but not the full truth) and if they were to travel by floo-powder, it would be a little more then obvious.

The Ministry had given Gabriella permission to create a floo-network from David's living room to Sorcelle cottage; simply for convenience. It was simply easier to travel to David's via floo network then by car, and it took much less time. Heather shot Gabriella a dirty look, before strutting away into the kitchen. 

Out of her handbag, her mother retrieved a mason-jar filled to the brim with floo-power, and offered to each child. Once by one, they disappeared into the fireplace and to Sorcelle cottage. To not seem suspicious, when it was just Delilah left, she ran to the front door and shouted a goodbye to Heather, slammed the door and ran into the fireplace.

***

A great emerald green fire erupted in front of her, and in an instant, the fairly modern decor of her fathers apartment disappeared and a complete change in setting had occurred. The air had changed, and was now much, much colder. The newly-fitted white fireplace was now a crumbling cobblestone one, and once she stepped out, she found herself in the living room of the main cottage.

An enormous red-patterned carpet sat under a mahogany coffee-table, situated between three patchwork sofas. Each sofa had a little group of people on them, and crocheted blankets were hung over the back of them. A Christmas tree, which was at least ten feet tall, stood in the corner, illuminating the room in a yellow glow. Out of the window, she saw the sky was a cerise colour as the sun fell behind the tops of the trees of the forest circling the back of the fields.

Her cousin, Lucille, was sat on the sofa directly opposite the fireplace. She immediately sprang from her seat, and sprinted around the coffee table and pulled her cousin into a hug. 

"I'm coming to Hogwarts after Christmas! They offered to transfer me!" She shouted, pulling away from the hug. Behind her, her father Henri giggled at his daughters excitement-   
"Darling, you were not supposed to tell her yet!" He laughed, causing his wife Noelle to also burst into laughter.

Lucille's nickname was Luci- and no one really called her by her real name unless she was in trouble. She was a year younger then Delilah, and they'd been best friends since they were babies- completely inseparable. Delilah was distraught when she found out she'd be going to Beauxbatons, and not Hogwarts, but the two would exchange letters every so often. 

The smell of her grandmothers cookies sunk through the living room, as she walked in, tray in hand with her pink oven-mits covering her frail fingers.  
"Delilah! Ezra! Felix! Hello dears! Cookie?" She asked, gesturing for them to take one. They each took a cookie, along with everyone else in the room, and her mouth exploded with the flavour. Her grandmother's cookies were inexplicable- the best cookies she'd ever tasted. She had to give one to Cedric, he did have quite the sweet tooth.

The Sorcelle's all lived on the same plot of land. The story went that Delilah's ancestor was a French Minister of Magic in the mid 1600's- and once he retired, he bought acres of land, and built a large cottage to maintain his growing family. The Sorcelle's money was old money; and the tradition was, when each child got married, they would move into a cottage on such land, creating a little sort of 'village.'

Henri and his family were the closest to the main one, where the grandparents lived- then it was Gabriella. There was two empty cottages beside them, as the Sorcelle's never usually had more then four children. When the inhabitants of the main cottage eventually met their demise, the eldest child would move in- so when her parents passed away, Gabriella would move in.

Delilah's grandmother, Isabel, was a polite and well-mannered witch, and forced her morals upon her family. She adored Christmas; and would constantly go all-out, as seen by her 10 foot tree. She was a loving mother and grandmother, and would knit everyone new scarf's and gloves every winter just in time for when last-years were frayed beyond use. Her eyes were a deep-brown, almost black- and due to her being a Veela, her hair had never lost its dark colour.

Her grandfather, Josef, was your typical grumpy grandfather, but he loved his family more then anything else- a common theme throughout the Sorcelle's. Family meant everything to them, it's all they had living in the deep countryside. He would often lounge in his armchair, covered in a patchwork blanket knitted for him by his wife, reading the Daily Prophet. His eyes, as were the majority of the Sorcelle's, were grey- and in his youth had coal-like, sporadically curly hair- but in his old-age, was now an ivory grey.

Her uncle Henri was a journalist, and was extremely committed to his job. He was a generally formal man, but was also the clown of the family. His dad jokes were terrible, but even after all these years would leave Delilah in fits of laughter. He, similar to his twin sister, had pitch-black, curly hair, and grey eyes- a trait reflecting onto almost all the Sorcelle's. His wife, Celeste, would travel the world collecting data on magical creatures, and was from the Cadieux family- a long line of pureblood French and British wizards. She would constantly show Delilah photographs of exotic magical creatures- as Delilah was considering exploring the magical creatures field herself. Celeste had the same hair as her daughter, but stark-green eyes.

Her cousin, Lucille, was a only a few months younger then herself, but because Delilah was born in August, it meant Luci was the year below. Her hair was a pale brown, like the colour of fallen leaves in the autumn. Her eyes were similar to her aunt's- a piercing grey, with a slight blue hue. She was stunning. She was quite bubbly, and often had bursts of energy and these energy-bursts took hours to leave.

Her other cousin, Hugo, was only three years old- but was quite the personality. His curly black hair was unruly, and his eyes were a sage-green, with flecks of hazel. His button nose was full of freckles, which were littered from the bridge of his nose, across his cheeks and between his eyebrows. He adored his families dog, Biscuit, and he was all around just a well mannered, hilarious toddler.

***

Delilah had now caught up with her family, and was now inside the living room of her mother's cottage. It wasn't nearly as spacious as her grandmothers, but wasn't cluttered- just pleasantly comfortable. The blazing fire kept the room at a reasonable temperature, as Delilah untwisted the feathers of her mother's owl, Francis. The grandfather clock's constant ticking sound rapidly grew irritating, so she left the living room and headed to her bedroom.

Her bedroom at her mothers was vastly different to the one at her fathers- all the furniture was a mahogany colour, and houseplants cluttered the desk, and hung from the ceiling. Her wallpaper was a maroon red, with golden accents winding up the wall in a snake like fashion. Her desk was the same wood tone as her bed frame, but slightly more beaten. The electricity in her bedroom had tripped a few hours ago, but the snow has completely encased the fusebox so all she had was candlelight. 

Every now and then, the drip of the candle wax would hit the metal pan, causing an almost inaudible pang to echo out into the room. Next door, she could hear Felix humming whilst cleaning up his bedroom. Opposite, she could hear Ezra taking a shower. the hubbub wasn't too irritating; it was almost soothing.

She was now on chapter 18 of Pride and Prejudice, a muggle book her friend had suggested. She was thoroughly enjoying it, but the flickering candlelight was making her fall to sleep. Before you could say "Don't forget the bookmark!" She was sound asleep, her head sunken into her pillow.

***

Delilah woke up to the sun rising over the tree's, lighting her room up. The snow had melted slightly, but not by much at all. It was Christmas eve- and Lucille's birthday. The Sorcelle's had set up a surprise birthday party at 3 o'clock- and Delilah was set with the task of distracting her until then. She was slightly devastated she couldn't help decorate with banners and balloons, but she didn't mind spending time with Luci.

The clock mounted on her wall read 12:30- she was supposed to be in Luci's cottage half an hour ago! She jumped from her bed, threw back her duvet, and put on whatever was in her wardrobe. She grabbed her brothers bagels from the toaster, and mentally and physically prepared herself to enter the freezing outside world. She stuck an apology note onto the toaster, before running through the snow and across the field enveloped in snow, and over to Luci, still with a bagel in her mouth.

"Luci! Unlock the bloody door!" She screamed, almost beating the door down. A little click from behind the door indicated it was now unlocked, and she ran inside. She was suddenly hit with the heat beating from the fire, and in her rush, nearly sent little Hugo flying across the room.

"Sorry little man-" she apologised, ruffling his already untidy hair. He was wearing green dinosaur pyjamas, matched with a crown and fairy wings.  
"Loving the outfit, Hue." She laughed, as he gave her a twirl. He then ran off to where it is Hugo runs off to, as Lucille trotted into the living room, still in her hotpink dressing gown. In her hand, was a mug with "#1 dad" in bubble writing, filled with either tea of hot chocolate. Her hair was now shoved until a tangled mess of a bun- she looked so much different with her hair up.

"I'm just popping to nana's to grab some cookies-" She said, putting her mug onto the counter-top.  
"I think not, love" Delilah replied, shoving her into the armchair.  
"Have you seen the weather? You'll get a cold. Happy birthday by the way."  
Luci gave a bewildered look, before turning her head to see Hugo, in his fantastic outfit, now running around the house with Biscuit trailing not far behind.

"Oh Merlin, Hugo what are you wearing?" She laughed, pulling at his fairy-wings.  
"Pap said I could have your old dress-up stuff if I wanted." He replied, one hand on his hip and one scratching biscuits head. Delilah couldn't help but laugh- he reminded her so much of Felix when he was that age. Gabriella had once caught him dancing around the house in one of Delilah's princess dresses tucked into his tracksuit bottoms.

***

It was 2:30pm, a half hour before Luci's party, when Gabriella and her brothers ran into the house, each of them dithering. Gabriella was clutching a letter, and it was just Delilah left in the living room. Luci had gone in the shower, and Henri had taken Hugo to Isabel and Josefs for his dinner.

Gabriella read out the name on the back of the envelope.  
"Delilah, who's Cedric?" She asked, examining the letter.  
"A friend from school, why? Ezra tell you about him?" She replied, not looking taking her eyes from her book.  
"No darling, he wrote you a letter." She said.  
Delilah's eyes widened, as she sprang over the back of the chair and towards her mother to retrieve the letter. Gabriella's arm then soared in the air, and the letter was millimetres out of reach. Felix let out a menacing laugh, along with Ezra and then finally Gabriella.

"Boyfriend, darling?" Her mother asked, shaking the letter in her face.  
"No. Mom please don't-" She groaned, jumping, and surprisingly ripping the letter from her mothers grasp.  
"Is he cute?"  
"Mom leave it."  
"Okay dear. Bring Luci at three, okay?"  
"Yes."

Once the three had left, she tore open the envelope and read Cedrics letter.

"To Lilah,

I am okay, thank you for asking. I hope you have a good time in France! I'd love to visit your cottage someday. And you're welcome for your present, i'm over the moon you liked them. Thank you for mine, too. I have the picture pinned on my pinboard above my desk.

I hope your Christmas goes well. Cant wait to see you January 5th! Have a great new year, and all the best to you and your family. And yes, I heard about the Triwizard tournament- i'm considering trying out.

Write back soon.

Love, Ced."

She felt a smile from as she read the letter. She still felt the illness she'd felt since the Quidditch match, but it wasn't as severe anymore. Luci re-entered the living room, now dressed, and asked her why she was so flushed.

"The fire-" She lied, folding the paper up and putting it in her back pocket.  
"I want to go grab a cookie from Grandma's." Luci groaned, and much to her surprise, Delilah agreed. The two pulled their coats on, and began the treacherous sprint to their Grandmothers. The snow had stopped falling now, but still lay heavy on the ground. It took them a few painful minutes to arrive at the cottage, and Delilah let Luci go first.

Just as the door swung open, the living room light switched on, and several banners hung from the walls, dozens of balloons littered the floors, and plenty of presents decorated the chairs. 

Everyone sprung up from their individual places, even Biscuit, and they each exclaimed Happy Birthday (including a howl from Biscuit.) Luci instantly burst into tears, before sprinting into the open arms of her father. Delilah smugly walked in behind her, and shut the door before her Grandfather complained about her 'letting the heat out.'

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." Henri smiled, hugging his daughter.  
"Thank you, dad."

Foods of all varieties were dotted about the dining table, such as cupcakes, sandwitches, a bowl of chicken nuggets for Hugo and Delilah, crisps, every kind of potato imaginable and so much more. Isabel must've been working on this all day, bless her soul.

The stereo was playing muggle christmas music, such as 'Fairytale in New York' and 'Do they know it's Christmas?' Her grandfather would occasionally tune in about how silly muggle music was, but she'd notice him hum along and tap his slippers to a few. Hugo was running around the place, several chicken nuggets in one hand, and a pink glitter notebook in the other. Heaven knows where he got it from.

When macarena began to blast through the speakers, Delilah, Felix and Ezra immediately jumped to their feet. After the first verse had gone, one by one, each family member joined and followed the trio's lead. They were completely dysfunctional and out of sync, but they were all having a whale of a time. Hugo even joined in and wasn't even doing it, he was just spinning in circle and occasionally jumping up and down, but it didn't matter.

After a whole heap of dancing and eating, everyone began to pack away and go home. Delilah was upset it was over, but she was exhausted- so it was a slight relief. She couldn't wait to be wrapped up under her blankets, with her cat Frog sound asleep on his hanging bed beside her.

Overall, the party was chaotic; but it was family, and it was home. There was nothing more she could've asked for.


	7. 5th year || Back Again.

Delilah was awoken by the occasional sizzle of frying bacon, and the prevalent smell of burning toast irritated her nose. Reluctantly, she tore herself away from her bed and stumbled into the kitchen, both her arms full with dirty dishes and cutlery Gabriella had asked her to wash up days ago.

The twins chipped in 10€ each towards Gabriella getting her nails redone- something she hadn't had since Hugo was a newborn, because she'd nearly poked his eye out picking him up in the hospital. Gabriella ran over to Delilah as she walked in, showing her the new matte-black coffin nails on her hands. They were a contrast from her pale fingers- but Delilah encouraged her to them done more often.

Gabriella's hair was wrapped up in a tangled bun, as she scooped everything from Delilah's arms, and she threw the dirty dishes into the sink. Ezra was the one cooking the bacon- and was doing a surprisingly good job. Ezra was usually totally hopeless when it came to any household chore, as much as he tried. It was now January 5th, as told by the new calendar hanging from the wall above the bin, and the group had to be at Kings Cross for 11am. 

Felix woke Delilah up at 7am to get ready, but true to her usual nature, didn't gather herself and tumbled out of bed until a neat 8:30. Her mother stood before her, and rolled Delilah's mousy hair between her bony fingers.

"Shower, darling- your hair is greasy."  
"Cheers mom." Delilah said sarcastically, as Felix choked on his bacon in laughter. 

***

"Ez!" Delilah shouted, wrapping her hair in the towel. "You best of made me a plate with some bacon sandwiches on or i'll churn you into some bacon!" 

Instant clattering of plates could be heard in the kitchen, and then a sizzle. With a smug look on her face, Delilah walked across the hallway and into her bedroom. She pulled her bedroom window open, and began packing her trunk.

Her eyes darted to the list she'd written last night (she was prone to forgetting something) and went through her trunk. She'd decided to try out for the Gryffindor quidditch team- Oliver insisted- so she shoved her old Qudditch jumper inside along with her robes and such. 

Gabriella bought Delilah a kitten for Christmas; a little white kitten with two grey circles around his eyes. The green collar latched around the kittens neck inspired Delilah with the name- Frog. Frog had to stay in Delilahs room or the living room, because he nearly killed Felix's owl on boxing day.

"Felix! Come here!" Delilah called, trying with all her might to squish her trunk down ever so slightly so she could buckle the latches. A few moments later, her little brother with his jet-black hair falling just below his childishly vacant blue eyes was stood at her doorframe. He was extremely tall for his age- a trait passed down from their mother. His eyes darted between the trunk, with the seams almost bursting with the amount of things shoved inside in such an disorderly fashion, and his sister who was almost breaking a sweat with her efforts to close said trunk.

Before she'd even opened her mouth, Felix raised one eyebrow and said,   
"No."  
"Felix please I cant do it." She groaned, flailing on-top of the trunk.  
"I have an idea." He grinned, strutting over to the battered stereo on an even more battered mahogany table.

He sat on the carpet, skimming through Delilahs extensive collection of cassettes. His finger ran down the shelf, hitting each tape with a clicking sound, until he stopped about halfway though. With a grin on his face, he waltzed over to the stereo and slid the mystery cassette inside. 

The music began to play- 'Babooshka' By Kate Bush. He hit the volume button with his finger at the very least fifteen times, and then counted to three on his fingers, and Delilah could hear footsteps sprinting down the hallway. Her bedroom door suddenly burst open, police-raid style, and Ezra was in the doorway screaming the lyrics. 

The pair were rather taken aback- just thirty seconds before they'd been arguing pathetically, and now Ezra was singing his heart out as if he was in a Primary school talent show.

Approximately four minutes later, and the music had faded away, Ezra took a bow and walked into her bedroom. Felix nodded at Delilah, and slumped from the room and to wherever it is Felix goes- most likely his own dingy bedroom. Ezra had been flinging around a sage-green Tupperware tub, filled with bacon sandwiches.

He threw the sandwiches on the bed, and ran to Delilah's aid. He was the shorter twin; and was the height of an average fourteen year old, meaning quite a few didn't believe Felix and Ezra were twins. They'd turned fourteen January 3rd, and seemed to of thought this was a tremendous change, but nothing about them had changed at all- other then Ezra's hair now being a platinum blonde, courtesy of Gabriella being bored at two in the morning. That would certainly not help with the 'twin' situation.

"Sit on there." He said, gesturing towards the trunk. Delilah placed herself on it, and Ezra began to tug at the zipper. 

"You'll bloody break it at this rate!" Delilah squeaked, jumping from the trunk. Ezra rolled his eyes, and walked from the room, leaving Delilah alone once again.

"Do it yourself, then."

"Tosspot!" She shouted down the hallway, and Ezra stuck his finger up as he walked into the dining room.

***

After the help of her mother, the trunk was  
now securely zipped up and placed on the living room sofa. She'd gotten changed, and was more then ready to leave- the same could not be said for Ezra. His '15-minutes' singing time had stretched to an hour, and now everyone was pressuring him to hurry up. 

Felix lugged his trunk in, and threw it on the floor in front of the door. They'd all agreed to meet outside the 'main' cottage, to say goodbye to Isabel and Josef and leave with Lucille.

Due to her transfer being near enough the middle of the year, Dumbledore agreed to sort her inside his office, and she was allowed to bring someone with her to assist her in not getting lost; and of course she chose Delilah.

They were running a few minutes later then Gabriella had intended to get to David's, but it wasn't a catastrophe, they'd just need to get through the muggles in Kings Cross a little faster then they usually would. Ezra was now packed, and now the four were running through the melting snow and towards Isabel's house. 

As the front door swung open, her grandfathers voice piped up and nagged the group to close the door. 

"Pap, be quiet." Gabriella lectured, throwing her house-keys into her fathers lap. He grumbled something under his breath and threw the keys into the pot next to the front door. Her grandmother ran in, still in her baking apron and wished the children goodbye, handing them each a satchel filled with sickles. Lucille ran down the stairs, her excitement nearly taking out her grandfather (her excitement being her trunk.)

Gabriella retrieved the almost full mason jar of floo powder, and offered each child a hefty handful. The floo powder was much too small- a lot of it would get dropped into the carpet, and Isabel would make the children feel guilty later. 'Floo powder isn't easy to get out of these carpets, remember!' She would always warn. She only unleashed her true ferocity and sternness when it came to mess. She'd always been the same; Clean house, happy people was her motto. Delilah often wondered how it was her grandparents even remotely liked each other- let alone fell in love- they were polar opposites.

But then again, opposites attract, do they not? 

Cedric hadn't written back to Delilah in a while and this deeply worried her. Cedric would always write back within a day or two, but whenever Albie would return recently, it would be empty handed- or empty-clawed. Why on earth was he ignoring her? They seemed to be on speaking terms in his last letter, so what had she done to swap this around so quickly?

"Delilah, darling, you go first and check if your fathers in." Gabriella insisted, nudging Delilah's shoulder with her elbow and scrunching her button nose with a smile. 

Rolling her eyes, Delilah walked into the crumbling cobblestone fireplace and closed her eyes. If her mascara got under her eyes because of this she'd kill her mother. She threw the powder at her feet and in her clearest voice, shouted "David Aftons apartment." 

The pleasantly warm embers lingering by her ankles and trainers had suddenly erupted into a virescent inferno, devouring Delilah and her belongings. She often found travelling by floo network to give her a migraine when she stepped out of the fireplace; so she mentally braced herself for that aspect. What she didn't brace herself for, however, was her father not being in the living room at 10:30am on a Wednesday. 

She walked into the apartment, tickled behind Bears ears and looked around for David. She checked his bedroom, which looked like it had been ransacked, and then his study. He was lying on his desk, snoring louder then she'd ever heard. 

"Dad! Wake up!" She shouted form the doorframe, but no answer. From the living room, she heard a crash- undoubtably Ezra, he always fell over after travelling through the floo network. The lamp had shattered in his study, and there was an off-white bandage tightly securing her fathers palm. After a few minutes of watching eagerly to see if her father would wake up, she walked over and shook his shoulder with all the strength she could muster- not a whole lot, i'll have you know, she hadn't had a coffee and she was relatively weak anyway.

She'd been so occupied watching her father like an eagle, she hadn't noticed her mother standing in the living room, observing her every move. When she'd finally woke up her father, he'd looked at her with his careless black eyes, and whispered:

"You're not my daughter. My daughter is normal, not one of you." 

Gabriella walked in; her pale complexion had now changed to a fiery red- she was even more furious then Delilah. The pairs temper when they were combined was not something anyone would want to encounter; especially not David.

"Don't you ever speak to my daughter that way." Gabriella spat, kicking his chair with considerable force, before dragging Delilah out by her shoulders. David had slammed the door behind the two, and Delilah could've swore he'd nearly taken the bottom hinges off.

They all lingered in the living room, before Bear started howling in the kitchen. Ezra went into the kitchen, and after about a minute he walked back out. 

"Looks like the dog hadn't been fed in days." He remarked, before the five left the apartment and stepped out into the hubbub of mainstream London. It took them a while to get the attention of a taxi, but once they did, they were on their way to Kings Cross, with fifteen minutes until the Hogwarts express would leave. 

***

The taxi pulled into a drop-off bay, and the five instantly sprung from the taxi and retrieved their bags. Their bags bashing against one another, they weaved in and out of the muggle crowds, and came to a halt outside the barrier to platform nine and three quarters. They were extremely lucky it was a relatively busy day, so they didn't have to look out for nosy muggles- they could just run straight through the barrier. 

Two minutes to get seated.

Felix went first, then Ezra and Delilah, leaving Luci and Gabriella on the other side. They didn't look behind them, they just ran for the train. They'd nearly missed it last term, and it was defiantly not happening again on her watch, after all the hassle of finding an empty compartment.

"I'll see you soon, dad- i'll write to you, I promise." She heard a student- probably a first or second year- bidding goodbye to their father, and it made her wish; it made her wish with every fibre of her very being her father cared enough. The only reason he picked her up after Christmas was because Gabriella had bugged and pestered him as she would be out for buinsess that was simply not cancellable, it was vital for her new career.

"Bye, mom. Love you." Delilah smiled, pulling Gabriella into a one-armed hug because her other was occupied with her trunk. 

"Write to me, darling." She smiled back- Delilah couldn't see the rest of her expression, as the majority of her face was hidden behind her oversized sunglasses. Her mother was glamorous to say the least, but wasn't vain, which was probably the most peculiar to Delilah. A lot of woman in Gabriella's standing would usually be snobby, and would stick their noses up to those less fortunate, but she was the opposite. Her mother was a good woman.

She'd now boarded the train, and was quite shocked to find a handful of empty compartments, as the train was normally filled to the brim by now. She shrugged it off, as she pulled her brothers and her cousin into the compartment nearest to the toilets- less time taken for them to get dressed, she thought.

***

The train had not long left the station, when the woman who lugs around the walk-way with the sweet trolley limped towards their door. 

"Anything from the trolley, dears?"

Her voice was nearly as croaky as that of a dying frog. Felix and Felix had gone to find one of their friends, and Luci had gone with them- she was eager to meet everyone and anyone she could.   
She knew her brothers 'orders' off by heart now, and once she'd payed and placed everyone's sweets on their designated seats, she found her eyelids slowly dropping- and before very long she'd fell asleep on the window ledge.

***

She felt a tug on her sleeve, and through squinted eyes, saw the blurred outline of a certain yellow-robed Hufflepuff. 

"Hi- Im sorry to wake you up, but I walked by and couldn't help but notice you were alone, so we were wondering if you'd like to sit with us."  
She asked, his eyes constantly darting down the corridor- probably to check if Cho was around.

"Whos 'we?'" She grumbled, her eyes still sensitive to the bright light jolting about above her. She watched as his smile trembled slightly, and said:  
"You'll see. Come on Delilah."

He pulled her from the comfort of the chair, and dragged her down the walkway. The three had been for their sweets, and were now gone- probably with Ezra's and Felix's friends. Cedric gently spun Delilah in front of him, as she stumbled into a compartment full of boys.

The first one to take her hand was a boy she recognised, and was certainly not very impressed to see. Jae Cortez was a Gryffindor- as was she- and he thought highly of himself, and he most likely thought he was a 'pimp'. In all honestly, however, most of the girls saw him as a womanizer.

"This your side hoe, Ced?" He joked, pushing his tawny hair from his dark eyes. She knew Alicia Spinnet had a bit of a thing for Jae, but she wasn't sure how- she found his attitudeand overall demeanour utterly revolting.

The next pushed Jae down by his shoulder, and then stood up. He towered over Delilah, and his accent was surprising thick- Irish, not doubt. His ivory skin was taken over by a mass of dark freckles, and his unruly ginger hair sat atop of his head, and she wondered how it didn't irritate him.

"Quincy Scanlan, but you can call me Quinn, pretty girl." He spoke through a grin. He was a Hufflepuff- probably the only reason Cedric even knew him. Jae and Quinn seemed very alike, and Delilah gave a dazed smile before Cedric stepped in Quinn's foot and sent squealing him back into his chair.

The boy in the corner seemed more interested in his book then the girl who had suddenly invaded his compartment. Nevertheless, he gave her a nod to let her know he acknowledged her, before introducing himself.

"Jenson Kami." He spoke. He closed his book and placed it on his lap- he was a Ravenclaw, to no ones surprise. His ebony skin matched perfectly with his mahogany eyes, and his hair seemed to be the most contained in the compartment, with the exception of Diggory.

She gave him a pleasant smile, before turning to the last member of the room. Her heart sunk- it was Juro. Juro Chang. She'd been a little more then friends with Juro in the Summer before fifth year- and she did not expect to see him here.

"Oh- hello Juro." She gave her best attempt at a friendly smile- but truthfully, she hated him more then she hated anything else. He'd cut her off completely when they'd returned, and he was still a sore subject. He looked her up and down with a venomous glare, before getting up and slamming the compartment door on the way out.

She got the impulse to stick her head from the door and call him every cuss word uber the sun, but refrained and kept a smile on her face. Jenson rose from his seat not long after and followed, leaving four in the compartment.

"Wheres Roman?" Cedric asked.  
"I dunno- we're going to get into our robes, Ceddie. We'll see you later." Quinn said, and winked at Cedric as they all left.

"Could we.. speak for a second?" He asked, shutting the compartment door. He whispered Muffliato, the incantation to cause a buzzing sound in anyone within a few meters vicinity. She stared at him as he sat himself down opposite her, and she swung her feet. After all these years she still couldn't touch the floor. If her feet didn't touch the floor next year, she'd just have to wear shoes with thicker soles.

"Yeah, I guess. Why did you ignore my owls?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow. 

"I was visiting my sister Aubrey." He explained, his eyes still flickering to the walkway and back.

"Would've been nice to know." She scoffed, avoiding eye contact. If she looked at him, she'd feel bad for anything slightly rude she said. He was too nice to deserve her temper.

"Oh, i'm sorry. She lives in the country and I know it was your brothers birthdays so I didn't really want to interrupt." 

"Okay."

"Delilah did I say something? You're being really bitter for no reason- I thought we were friends?" He pointed out, brushing the rouge strands of hair from her eyes.

"No. I need to erm- give this to Ezra-" She stammered, and rushed from the compartment. She didn't even have anything she could give to Ezra on her person. She ran into her compartment, and slid the door behind her.

She was so sick of feeling this way.

If only she knew what it was.

If it was an illness, she'd pay millions for the medicine.

If only she knew there was no medicine for what it was she was feeling.

If only she knew what it was she was feeling.

If only she knew.


	8. 5th Year || The Incident

It was finally Friday; finally the end of the painful week. It may only of been the first week back, and it may of only been two days, but it was the most exhausting two days. Cho and her group of cronies- most notable Alice Whitby- had been staring her down, and was doing so as Delilah sat at the Gryffindor table almost alone, but in all fairness George was relatively quiet anyway.

Fred Weasley and Angelina had decided to cram a random 'study session' out of the blue, meaning Delilah and George only had each other for company. This wasn't too much of an issue, the two got along perfectly fine, but this was not the day she fancied being stuck with someone.

George would try and spark a conversation every so often, and was shot down almost immediately by Delilah either just completely ignoring him or just giving him a mumble.

She put her face in her hands and dragged them downwards. Her hair was a tangled mess, but she wasn't too bothered about that. What she was bothered about, however, was Cho Chang's group marching towards her, missing their 'leader'.

Two of them sat each side of Delilah, and Alice sat opposite Delilah, and next to George.  
Delilah looked up from her bowl, and stared at the new members of the table through tired eyes.

"Look, Alice, just piss off." Delilah hissed, as she watched her shove George aside. Alice gave an obviously fake smile, before they started tormenting her.

"So- you want to marry Cedric?" Alice mocked, battering her eyelashes and pouting her lip in a sinister fashion.

"Yeah, well good luck with that." The one on her left added.

"You've got about as much of a chance of getting with this lad." Alice said, elbowing George in the rib.

"And why's that." Delilah asked monotonously.

"Because he's a pureblood." The one on the right said, sliding slightly away from Delilah.

"His foreheads worth about as much as renting your mother for the year" Alice spat.

What?

Delilah threw down her cutlery, and pushed herself up with her hands. She towered over Alexis, her mess of hair drooping over the platters.

"What did you just say?" Ferocity lacing her bitter and coarse voice.

"You heard me Sorcelle."

Delilah had never been so enraged. She started to giggle- and Alexis looked at her like she was a freak. Just on cue, Cho walked into the hall, linking arms with Cedric.

Alexis looked at Cho, then back at Delilah; who was now dragging herself over to her. Cedric gave Delilah a smile, before letting go of Cho and walking over to his friends Delilah had met in the compartment on Wednesday.

"Cho, can I ask you something?" She was trying her best to stay calm. She tended to get riled up very easy, and she knew that Alice knew this; they were best friends second year after all.

"I suppose?"

Even her voice angered Delilah. Cho hadn't done anything wrong, so she wasn't sure why every little aspect about her annoyed her beyond belief.

"Why did you send your friends over to speak to me?" Delilah felt her voice crack, and get slightly louder, attracting the attention of a handful of the occupants of the great hall, including Felix.

Cho gave her a bewildered look, as if to say none of this was planned. Delilah felt herself getting flustered; and balled up her fists.

"Delilah? What did I do to you?"

"Nothing Cho. It's okay." Delilah laughed, and spun around and started to walk over to the table; before Cho said something she'd deeply regret.

"You're just jealous, aren't you Sorcelle."

Delilah had hardly moved from where it was she was speaking to Cho. Delilah threw her head down- and much to Cho's surprise, spun back around; and proceeded to punch her with all her might, directly in her unexpecting face and sent her flying backwards.

Some people in the hall weren't all too bothered, and probably didn't notice- a few spun their heads around to watch this whole ordeal unfold, and George Weasley and Alice Whitby sprinted to their friends aid.

Delilah found herself standing over Cho, before launching for her once again. Cho let out a blood-curdling scream, as she tried pushing Delilah away from her- but her efforts were pitiful. George was pulling one arm back, and Chos constant glass-shattered screams had alerted Diggory who also came running over to help George tear Delilah away.

Tears started to spill from her eyes, as she kept swinging for Cho- who's nose was now blooded and eye was bruised. 

Someone must've run from the hall and alerted McGonagall, because she was now hastily walking towards the two.

"Miss Sorcelle stop this instant!" Her voice bellowed throughout the hallway, but did nothing. Delilah was still punching Cho with all the energy she could muster. She only stopped when McGonagall tore her away and dragged her away to her office. She passed Ezra on her forced journey, who didn't even bat an eyelid and continued the dramatic sprint to his first lesson.

***

"Take a seat, Delilah." McGonagall instructed, ushering Delilah into the velvet stool before sitting behind her dark-oak desk, piled to the brim with paperwork of all kinds.

"What on earth happened?" She asked sincerely, looking at Delilah over her glasses with raised eyebrows.

"I punched her?"

"Well yes, that's obvious- I mean what happened that somehow caused you to be punching her?"

"Nothing." She mumbled.

"Nothing?"

"Yes."

"In that case- you'll be serving detention tonight, with Professor Lupin. Be there for 6pm, please Miss Sorcelle."

"Whatever."

She sulked from the office. That had gone a lot smoother then she'd expected when she was being dragged there by her hood. But it was just her luck to have to serve detention with Professor Lupin. It wasn't the worst news in the world, it's just she was slightly hoping to have Hagrid; they'd build quite a bond as she would often be in detention for the first three years of her education- it was a surprise she'd even had any free time after school.

***

Just as she swung the door to the Potions classroom open, everyone gave her a gruesome stare before Snape snapped his fingers and re-gained everyone's attention.

She took her place next to Cedric, who seemed  
to be incredibly unimpressed with Delilahs actions.

"You put her in the bloody hospital ward! What were you thinking!" He lectured, and much to his dismay, Delilah visibly didn't care all too much.

"Maybe next time keep your dog in its cage." She spat, before flickering open her textbook.

He sighed, before shaking his head.

"I don't need the lecture, I already have a father, Cedric. Keep it for another day." She added, before gritting her teeth.

He didn't seem so keen of Cho when he was constantly bugging Delilah to speak to him in private, so why did he seem so caring now?

She didn't need him anyway.

She didn't need him.

Or did she?


	9. 5th Year || Detention and DADA cover.

The day had gone relatively smoothly; of course putting aside the 'confrontation' that took place during breakfast that morning. But what's done is done, and she found herself waiting outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts room at 6 o'clock.

She waited around the door for about five minutes, before trying the door handle. It was locked- how did they expect her to do the detention if the professor wasn't even here? She slumped down against the wall, the freezing stone pressing against her legs.

Another five minutes later, she heard two pairs of feet stomping down the corridor. She arose from her seat on the floor, and saw a furious Severus Snape marching towards her, clutching onto the back of George Weasleys robe.

"Sorcelle, where is Professor Lupin?" He asked, scanning the nearby corridor with cold eyes.

"Not sure, Professor. I've been waiting here since 6."

"Of course he isn't here. Wait here, Weasley." He hissed sternly, practically throwing George over towards Delilah. Snape then turned away from the pair and marched the very same way he came.

George's robes had always fallen particularly short on him, so his scuffed trainers were always visible. His hair was never very neat, either; but that was a trait in all the Weasley sons- Percy being an obvious exception. But she didn't mind- she knew their standing so she would never be harsh on him- she was never really harsh on anyone, but tended to do it accidentally.

"What did you do now?" Delilah asked, reenacting Molly Weasleys sternness she knew she possessed.

"Tried to feed Mrs. Norris a Hiccough Sweet to distract her from Fred. I'd ask you why you're here, but I think everyone knows by now." He joked, his eyesight gazing away from Delilah every few seconds. He seemed preoccupied with something; something obviously whirring around in his mind. She decided to leave him and his thoughts be.

Another couple of minutes later, Lupin stumbled towards the two, looking positively deathly. In his arms, he carried a stack of about fifteen to twenty rolls of parchment. 

"Im really sorry about being so late, but please, open the door for me would you George?" He asked, fumbling with his keys and handing George a rusted one. George walked to the door, unlocked it and swung it open, stopping it from closing with his foot and allowing the pair to enter. 

Professor Lupin then threw the stack of papers on the desk, before seating George and Delilah. 

"George, if you would." Lupin gestured towards the pile of papers. 

"I am not marking those, professor." George insisted, staring at the lengthy pile of class work.

"Well it's a bloody good job I didn't want you to. I wanted you to move them up into my office. I'm going to mark them later." He replied, pulling two quills and two rolls of parchment from the chest of drawers.

"I want you both to just... write about how to capture cornish pixies." 

"Immobulus?" Delilah asked, brushing her finger down the feathers of the quill. Remus replied to her question with a nod, before climbing up the stairs and to his office.

***

They'd been in detention for an hour, and still had another to go, when Professor Lupin walked from his office, and sat opposite the pair. She'd never noticed how... desolate his eyes were before. Professor Lupin would teach Delilah defence against the dark arts three times a week; but she'd never really looked at him. He had green eyes- but they weren't a delightful sage-green- they were the colour of vines, vines that would tactically slither around your neck, growing tighter and tighter; leaving you breathless.

"Professor Lupin, where were you yesterday?" Delilah asked, her eyes swapping between her teachers and George's.

"Yeah, we were stuck with bloody Flitwick." George added with a cruel scowl on his face.

"Oh dear- very sorry. I was in a meeting with Sev- Professor Snape." Lupin chuckled to himself, before checking the ancient tattered watch lying on his right wrist.

"Well, you best get leaving. Curfew is in fifteen minutes, cant have you roaming the castle with a murderer on the lose, no no. Not after the Halloween fiasco." 

Ah yes, the whole Halloween ordeal. Sirius Black was spotted in Hogsmeade a few days before Halloween, and then broke into the Gryffindor boys dorm- more specifically, Harry Potters dorm- and apparently held George's little brother Ron at knife point for his rat. The entire school had to sleep in sleeping-bags on the freezing floor of the Great Hall, and it was a good thing Delilah bought her hot water bottle or her fingers might of fallen off.

"Oh, okay professor. I'll see you on Tuesday for defence against the dark arts?" Delilah smiled, swinging around on her seat and jumping up onto her feet.

The professors face grew pale, like he'd seen a ghost- before nodding and ushering the two from the room quicker then you could say 'But my quill-'.

George was walking down the corridor at a relatively normal pace, whilst Delilah almost ran behind- George was extremely tall for his age, and it was difficult to keep up with his strides. The small click of her shoes echoed down the hallway, along with the distant screech of an owl.

"George, I agreed to follow you because I wanted some chocolate! Where is it?" She huffed, nearly out of breath. She'd been maintaining this speed for about five minutes now, and this is probably why she wasn't a quidditch player yet. 

"C'mon, just follow me Sorcelle. I need to tell something." He giggled to himself, clearly pleased at the unimpressed look now burning into his forehead.

***

"This is a pisstake! I am not walking up those bloody stairs Weasley." She said defiantly, her arms crossed as her tired eyes followed George.   
Had he just sent her on a wild goose chase? It most certainly wouldn't be his first time doing so; when they first met, George had told her if she swapped seats with him, and turned around four times, she'd get the ice cream of her choice. Who'd of know he just wanted to sit right where the chicken fingers were about to appear?

George then sighed, before sprinting back down the stairs and latching his fingers around Delilahs.

"You're such a baby! Come on." He grinned, and he practically pulled her up the stairs.

It took them a decent while to arrive at the top of the dreadful staircase; and it was now 7:45pm, and curfew was at 8. This new curfew definitely got in the way of her own plans, but then again, she would rather be cooped up in her common room then murdered by the crazed killer that was lose in the castle. George silently slid the latch across, and the two walked onto the enormous platform. The Astronomy tower seemed to be one of George's favourite places.

George immediately sprinted over to the edge, and clung to the railings. He pulled two miniature flasks from his pockets, and beckoned for Delilah to join him. She'd noticed George had been slightly off recently, often lingering behind Fred and not wanting to make himself noticed. Almost like a left-out puppy. 

"What's been up with you recently?" She asked, unscrewing the top. Whenever the two would escape the prejudice labryinth that was Hogwarts, they would find time to console one another. She took a swig of the contents of the flask- but it wasn't what she expected. He'd normally snag her some butterbeer or some sort of drink, but no, it was in fact firewiskey.

Once she'd finished the drink, she shuddered and stuck her tongue out.

"I have no idea how Ezra can chug this- absolutely vile. Doesn't even do anything-" Just as she said that she felt a chill stab her spine, and her head start to pound.

"Never mind." She choked, as George giggled at his friends misfortune.

***

Turns out firewiskey isn't as atrocious as she first thought. Between themselves, they'd managed to down both flasks, and the dregs of the actual bottle. George seemed to handle his drinks much better then Delilah, who was slumped against the wall laughing at the way the owls flew. 

"They look like they're on strings!" She giggled, trailing behind each bird with her index finger. She was tracing a strangely large bird, which was in fact a dementor, when she felt a freezing hand press against her cheek.

"Look.. I know we've been friends for years, Delilah.." His sentence trailed off. George's eyes were shifting between each of Delilahs, as a gentle smile began to illuminate his pale complexion.

Delilah placed her hand against George's, and pulled it from her face.

"Delilah?"

"George, you're like my brother-" She laughed, before rolling her heels on the floor and closing her eyes.

"Oh- erm- Okay. I need to go and find someone- i'll be back." He grimaced, before pulling himself to his feet and ruffling her hair and leaving her alone. She knew she'd upset him, but she couldn't lie to his face. She just couldn't.

***

She was shook awake about half an hour later, before she saw two blurred figures looming above her. One was definitely George... or some sort of Weasley, and another she couldn't quite make out. The unidentifiable figure and a Weasley looked at each other in fits of laughter, as the Weasley slunk away and disappeared. Somewhere in the distance, a devilish howl erupted from the forest.

"Right, come on Sorcelle." The figure laughed, pulling her to her feet.

"What on Earth did you drink? You look.. never mind." He slung her arm around his shoulder, and she was comforted with the sweet, soft smell of buttered popcorn.

***

It was now Tuesday; Cedric and George still hadn't allowed Delilah to live her 'lightweight-ness' down.

She was seated at her table in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Because it was such a popular O.W.L choice, it was split into two different groups; Gryffindor with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff with Slytherin. She was lucky enough to be sat between Roger Davis and Marietta Edgecomb. Marietta was Cho's best friend, and wasn't too fond of Delilah after the whole incident last week. Delilah had definitely gotten off lightly; if it was anyone else, she was sure the punishment would be worse, and she wasn't all too sure why McGonagall's usual sternness was swapped out for a more laidback approach.

She was surprised to find that instead of her usual teacher, Lupin, creeping into the room and smiling at each of his students, that it was instead Professor Snape. He strut down the very left isle, staying away from the students he claimed to despise. He stood before the group of fifth years, his ebony eyes cold enough to extinguish any inferno. 

"Turn to page 281." He spat, pulling down a sort of screen.

"What textbook, sir?" Roger piped up, holding both the textbooks required to take the course.

"Whichever covers nocturnal beasts on page 281, Davis."

"Yes, Professor."

Kissass.

***

"But Sir, we covered werewolves in third year." Delilah interrupted, skim-reading the pages on her textbook.

"You need to go into further detail."

"We already did further detail."

"Miss Sorcelle would you like another detention for being such a nusence? No, I didn't expect you would." He mocked, as the screen he'd pulled down began to flash with images of werewolves, a few clearly propaganda.

"Now, what is the difference between those with lycanthropy and an animagus."

A hardly audible scoff was heard from the back of the room and when Delilah spun around, she saw Eleonora, a rather arrogant Ravenclaw. She knew Eleonora Sallow was a muggleborn, and an extremely wealthy one at that; and was a beater on the quidditch team. She knew George had a thing for her, and so did Lee Jordan, but she personally didn't see it. All she saw was an arrogant, entitled brat. In the muggle world, Eleonora was the daughter of a baron, and her mother was part of the royal family. 

"Well, I don't believe anyone would elect to be a werewolf, would you? Grotesque creatures." She chuckled, her upper-class London accent causing Delilah to raise an eyebrow.

"It's not exactly their fault is it?"

"Oh, I apologise. Hit a nerve, did I Sorcelle?" 

She knew she had. Eleonora glared into Delilahs very soul, before curling her upper lip and gossiping with Maryanne Whitley. Whitley was a surprisingly bubbly personality, considering she spent her days cleaning Eleonoras intestines. Delilah enjoyed comparing Eleonora to that of a dementor, both feed off the grief of others.

Snape had watched the entire exchange, but didn't utter a word.

"I suppose you are correct Miss. Sallow, but not the answer I was looking for."

Delilahs hand was almost hitting the roof when Snape had made the conclusion no one in the class knew.

"Jackson?" Snape said, turning his neck towards another of Eleonora Sallows cronies.

"Animagi get to choose to transform, but Werewolves just... do it anyway?" Adrianna Jackson replied, chewing on a stick of chewing gum like a cow, as she always did. 

"Correct."

***

About halfway through the lesson, Professor Lupin hobbled in, hunched over. He was pallid- as though he should be bedridden. 

"Ah, thank you for covering my class, Professor Snape." He smiled, hobbling over to a bookshelf, and retrieving a book. Snape acknowledged Lupin, but didn't reply. He merely nodded, before revolving his neck to Delilah.

"Sorcelle, how is it you exterminate a werewolf?" A sickly smile plastered across his face. In the corner of her eye, she could've sworn Professor Lupin flinched, almost like he was in pain. 

"Well, there's decapitation. You can also put silver on their skin when they're in Werewolf form, and they'll transform back to their human form much weaker then usual. Or you can just chuck them on a fire." She described, not wanting to go into more detail in fear of Professor Lupin collapsing. Lupins eyes gazed from Snape to Delilah, lifeless, as he almost sprinted from the room. 

What was wrong with Professor Lupin?

Why did he seem so... bleak?


	10. 5th Year || This is Love.

Monday, 13th June 1995.

Delilah wanted to throw herself through the prized stain-glassed windows she sat opposite. Despite the fact it had been about four or five months since the whole confrontation with Cho Chang in the great hall, people still gave her a funny looks or just gave her a straight devils glare. Her on and off friendship with Cedric was still just that; and Adrian Pucey had seemed to grow a strange infatuation with her in just a few months. A few little friendship groups wafted in and out of the great hall, sniggering and gossiping between themselves.

She sat alone at the top of the Gryffindor table. George Weasley had also been avoiding her, due to her rejection on his advances, which she seriously did not need. Squashing down the soggy porridge with the edge of her spoon, she almost jumped out her skin when someone practically slammed themselves down beside her. Quite a few of the students had decided to sling their robes over their shoulders instead of wearing them, due to the humid heat of June.

She herself wasn't wearing her robes, and instead had it shoved in a crumpled pile on the bench beside her. 

"Delilah? Wheres your robe?" The familiar voice asked, his own canary robes neatly button up.

"Here" She nodded towards a mound of maroon and black cloth, with a mouthful of porridge. 

"Oh. How have you been?" Cedric asked, almost as if the two hadn't stopped speaking to one another.

"Alright I suppose. Ollie hasn't been leaving me alone about taking over Alicia's chaser position but I simply cannot be arsed. You okay?" 

"Yep! I was wondering what you were doing tomorrow?" He asked, innocence dancing in his honeycomb eyes.

"Stuff. Why." She replied stiffly. Just because he was relatively attractive, doesn't mean she had to suck up to him; especially since her friendship with his girlfriend wasn't extraordinary. 

"Hogsmeade is really nice this time of year, and i'm bored, so would you like to join me?"

"No." 

"No?"

"That is what I said, Ced." 

Cedric wasn't used to not getting his way. He smiled politely- but sadness filled his eyes like a kicked puppy. He drummed the table with the palms of his hands, before dragging himself away and slinging his arm around Jae Cortez and Quinn.

***

"Heard you turned down Diggory." Adrian grinned, raising his overly-bushy eyebrows. She was now sat in charms, with Adrian pestering her every fifteen seconds.

"Yeah. Don't know what it has to do with you." She glared at him from the corner of her eyes. Adrian had the tendency to get attached to girls he found pretty, and it didn't matter how obvious she made it she found him as repulsive as a warty toad, Adrians phase with her hadn't quite grown out yet.

"Well, we all know who you want to go to Hogsmeade with." He smirked, his boney hands inching closer and closer to her own. In all honesty, she was still incredibly infuriated with Cedric. She didn't know why, but that didn't matter.

"Of course I wanted to go with you!" She smiled sickly, trying to cover up her secret repugnance towards Adrian. His eyes instantly lit up. She didn't think he really expected that, but it's nice to keep people on their toes.

"I'll meet you at five tomorrow outside the great hall then." He whispered, looking across from him to his friend and nodding his head with his eyes widened. She was about to hit him round the back of the head with her Charms textbook, but decided against it.

***

"Class is dismissed!" Flitwick announced from his stack of books. Delilah stretched her arms outwards, and let out a yawn. Double Charms was truly a drag. Reaching for her bag, she was surprised to see Adrian Pucey had it slung over his own shoulder. When she looked to her left, all she could see was the gawping faces of Angelina and Alicia. As she reached forward to retrieve her bag, Adrian took a step back and shook his head.

"Nuh Huh- I'll carry it for you!" He smiled. 

"No honestly- please, I can do it myself. Appreciate the chivalrousness though." She smiled, tugging the bag from his shoulder and stomping towards the exit. Tomorrow was going to be the worst day of her life since she was placed next to Diggory in potions. 

Walking down the corridor, Delilah watched as the second years sprung over eachother, and a few tackled eachother onto the stone-cold ground. Through the cluttered corridor, she could see the platinum-dyed blonde hair of her little brother Ezra; but he was accompanied by a boy with a mane of dark auburn hair, and they both wore robes with golden trims. She didn't want to be that big sister- so she just watched from afar. Ezra and this boy were whispering about something or another, before a boy significantly taller then the pair strolled by. The back of his head looked almost identical to the boy speaking to Ezra, so she came to the conclusion it was his older brother. All of a sudden, the boy pulled Ezra into a hug before sprinting away out of sight.

Ezra looked around the corridor, before laying his eyes on his sister and her friends. Delilah raised her eyebrows and grinned at her brother, before throwing up a thumbs up and walking in his direction.

"Della can I speak to you?" Ezra asked, shifting his weight between both of his feet. He looked like a nervous wreck.

"What about? I'll meet you guys later, go get me a space at the table." Delilah said to Angelina and Alicia, who nodded in return and walked away, their arms looped together. 

"So I know you saw me just... that's my friend Bowie." He murmured, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah right. Boyfriend material right there." She laughed, folding her arms. What she didn't expect was for Ezra to get all flustered, and start to just blabber about random things.

"You get sidetracked really easily. What did you want to tell me?"

"I- erm. I think i'm gay?" Ezra muttered, still not taking his eyes from the floor.

"I know. You already told me."

"No I didn't." He said, looking up at her like she'd just said the world was about to end.

"You didn't?"

"No!"

"Well I already knew!"

"Bloody hell." Ezra laughed, slapping himself on the forehead before walking away to the Hufflepuff common room. She was happy he looked so relieved- but she didn't think Felix would take the news as well. 

***

Tuesday, 14th June 1995.

Tuesday had gone far too quickly for her liking. She found herself stood in her dorm with Angelina, being criticised on the way she was about to dress for her Hogsmeade date with Adrian.

"Delilah you cannot wear that!" Angelina screeched, and looked like she was about to burn her and all her outfits at stake. She didn't see anything wrong with her outfit. It was simple; the way she liked to dress. No point being extravagant for someone like Adrian, who'd probably dump someone or get dumped in a couple of days.

"Atleast wear this!" She protested, grabbing a necklace from Delilahs scarce jewellery box, and spinning her around. Whilst Angelina fumbled with the necklace, Delilah looked over at Alicia, who was staring her down. Once the necklace was secured around her neck, she strutted over towards the bathroom mirror with a smile plastering her face. 

"Angelina I cant wear this!" She yelped from the bathroom. The necklace Angelina had picked out was the one Cedric had got her for Christmas.

"You can! Go get your Prince Charming, or I will!" Angelina giggled.

Brilliant. 

She walked out of the bathroom, still in the clothes Angelina said she 'couldn't wear.' when all of a sudden she felt a pit in her stomach. She couldn't go on a Hogsmeade date with Pucey. Not now.

She stood before the moving stairs, anticipating the best way to not get noticed by Adrian. She didn't think there was any way to get out of the castle without walking past the hall. Scurrying down the stairs, she was relieved to find Adrian was running late. 

She knew exactly where she wanted to go; a place no one had ever bothered her before.

***

The grass surrounding the lake was a sage green, and the forbidden forest loomed behind her. Occasionally, when she stared into the algae infected water, she would see the great beast be disturbed by a group of merpeople. Some people are scared of ginormous spaces of water such as the lake, but it made Delilah feel at home. At peace. 

She quickly grew bored however, when she had forgotten her beloved sketchbook. Despite not being a very gifted artist, she loved drawing small doodles of anything that came to mind. When her eyes fell on her wristwatch, she was mortified to see an hour had already flew by. Being alone would often provoke little thoughts  
to expand, little feelings to overwhelm her. 

Being at such peace meant she couldn't help but ponder her situation. Some would say she was extremely lucky; one of the most attractive men at Hogwarts continued to pester her about joining him at Hogsmeade, or even just speaking to him. But her mother hadn't raised her to give in very easily. She didn't know if she loved him yet. She'd definitely loved him before; but now, when he seemed truly invested in her, she couldn't figure out if she loved him the same. 

Not to mention he has a bloody girlfriend, She thought. It would never matter how strong her feelings got, she would never be that type of person. Or would she? The pit in her stomach still hadn't left, and she felt tears burn the back of her eyes.   
I hate him.  
No.  
I don't. 

Why am I speaking in my head? She thought. She was alone. Who'd hear her anyway?

"Do I love him? I dunno. What'd you think, merman?" She asked, not expecting an answer. From the depths of the lake, a hardly audible gurgle shot up. She couldn't help but fall into a fit of laughter. Maybe she did. She would just have to find out.

In the far distance, the chimneys of Hogsmeade splurged out smoke, and she couldn't help but feel terrible for leaving Adrian alone. He hadn't done anything in particular, other then be a bit of a pest. She wanted to go and find him to apologise, but she didn't want to have to run into Cedric with Cho. Seeing them so happy together filled her with hatred darker then the pits of hell. Sure, Cho was probably a lovely girl- no, she was for certain. It's just you can't help but hate someone who is going out with someone you might love.

By this point, tears were trickling down her face. She never usually cried; but recently, she felt like she wasn't herself anymore. She wasn't the same as she was last year. Yes, she was infatuated with Cedric Diggory, but she was much more resilient and private about it. Now, everyone knew. Especially since she punched Cho straight in the face a few months back. 

"You know what?" She smiled, gazing out into the depths of the lake. "I do love him. Yep!"

She heard the grass crunch under somethings feet. She shrugged it off- she was sat about ten meters in-front of the forrest, and no one really knew what lurked in there. She jumped from her place in the grass, brushed all the clippings from her jeans, and looked up toward the cerulean sky. 

"I love him!" She screamed, almost in disbelief of her own actions. "I love Cedric!" She laughed, before falling back onto the floor. The footsteps stopped just as she said that; she rolled over onto her stomach to see what was fidgeting in the grass behind her.

"I love the declaration." A familiar voice laughed, before taking a seat next to Delilah. She didn't want to look. Adrian had probably found her. In a panic, she sat back up, and looked to her left- where the voice was coming from. Beside her, sat the one person in the world she didn't want to see. A pair of brown eyes- sweet and luminous- looked into her own. A soft aura of pollen and a striking smell of mint toothpaste surrounded her.

"I love you too."

She couldn't shake off the feeling something like this had happened before.


End file.
